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Local micro-brewery ready to welcome the public

  • Cort and Lanie Sanvig will be welcoming the public into Charles City’s own Saint Charles Brewing Co. starting Thursday. (Press photo James Grob.)

  • Cort and Lanie Sanvig will be welcoming the public into Charles City’s own Saint Charles Brewing Co. starting Thursday. (Press photo James Grob.)

  • Cort and Lanie Sanvig will be welcoming the public into Charles City’s own Saint Charles Brewing Co. starting Thursday. (Press photo James Grob.)

  • Cort and Lanie Sanvig will be welcoming the public into Charles City’s own Saint Charles Brewing Co. starting Thursday. (Press photo James Grob.)

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Thursday evening, it’ll be official.

After a lot of hard labor, a couple of “soft openings” to work out the kinks, reams of government paperwork and a substantial amount of beer-brewing, Cort and Lanie Sanvig will be welcoming the public into Charles City’s own Saint Charles Brewing Co.

“It feels great,” Lanie said. “After all the hard work, it’s finally happening.”

Saint Charles will be officially open 4-10 p.m. Thursday and Friday and noon-10 p.m. Saturday.

There will even be some live music Saturday night to help initiate the new brewhouse. The Langer’s Ball Group, described as an “Irish Folkpunk” band, will be playing from 6-9 p.m. Saturday night. Lanie calls it “very fun and upbeat music.”

Cort said that he intends to have live entertainment regularly. Saint Charles will also encourage patrons to bring in their own food, and Cedar River Pizza will deliver pizza right to the brewery when ordered.

“We’re trying to get more places to deliver, but so far it’s just Cedar River,” Lanie said.

The micro-brewery is located at 100 South Main St., right next to Subway and across the street from the courthouse.

Saint Charles will feature craft beers brewed in house, and for about the last year the Sanvigs have been working on the necessary renovations to the building and the property, which has been home to several different kinds of businesses over the years.

They said Saint Charles will produce seasonal flavors and add varieties of stouts and porters as they continue to grow.

Cort said there would be eight different beers and one cider available this weekend for the opening.

“‘Chuck Town Brown’ is going to be back on tap,” he said.

Chuck Town Brown, which Cort describes as an “easy-drinking fall-style brown ale,” was available for the public to sample one weekend about a month ago at The Pub on the Cedar, and it must have gone over well, because the keg was empty shortly after it was tapped.

“It sold very quickly, which was nice,” Lanie said.

Customers at Saint Charles will be able to order a “flight,” which is a sampling of four different beers brewed in-house. All the flavors have been well-received at the soft openings.

“We just wanted to make sure that everything worked right,” Cort said. “I already ran out of some beers, and had to re-brew them. They’re back on tap already.”

Cort said the soft openings included friends, friends-of-friends, and  “anybody brave enough to walk through the door.”

In the near future, the Sanvigs intend to have the micro-brewery open the same days and hours as they are this weekend.

Both say the local connection is important to them. The walls are decorated with maps of the state and the area. One promotes Charles City-area attractions and the other contains “Iowa Beer Trails,” which lists micro-breweries throughout the state. Saint Charles Brewing Co. is already among the establishments listed.

“It’s important to us to be a part of the community, and promote attractions in the area,” Lanie said.

Lanie said that leading up to Thursday, the public should watch the Saint Charles Facebook Page for giveaways and gift cards.

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